with Buenos Aires, Rosario, Tucuman, Cordoba, San Luis and Mendoza.
RIO DE CONTAS, or Villa de Contas, a town of Brazil in the state of Bahia, 230 m. S.W. from the city of Bahia, on the Brumado (Contas-Pequeno), a head stream of the Rio de Contas (Jussiape), which rises on the eastern slope of the neighbouring Serra das Almas, and flows S.E. and E. to the Atlantic coast at Barra do Rio de Contas. Pop. (1890), including rural districts, 17,318. The surrounding country is fertile and produces sugar, cotton, mandioca and tobacco, but has lost much of its prosperity through the droughts that have devastated the interior of the state, and because of the costs of transporting produce to market. Stock-raising was at one time an important industry here. The town was founded in 1715 by some “Paulistas” who discovered gold there in the sands of the river. It became a “villa” in 1724, but was soon afterward moved down the river 5 m. to a more convenient site on the high road between Bahia and Goyaz.
RIO DE JANEIRO, a maritime state of Brazil, bounded N. by Minas Geraes, E. by Espirito Santo and the Atlantic, S. by the Atlantic, and W. by São Paulo. It is one of the smaller states of the republic and has an area of 26,635 sq. m.; pop. (1900) 926,585. The state is traversed longitudinally by the Serra do Mar, which divides it into a low, narrow, irregular coastal zone, and a broad elevated river valley through which the Parahyba flows eastward to the Atlantic. The eastern part of this valley widens out into a great alluvial plain on which are to be found some of the richest sugar estates of Brazil. The central mountainous region is heavily wooded, the coast region is hot and in places malarial, but the valleys are fertile and well watered. The Parahyba valley has long been celebrated for its fertility, and was for many years the centre of the coffee-producing industry. The exhaustion of the soil and antiquated methods of cultivation have caused a great decline in this industry, and many of its coffee plantations are now either abandoned or are producing but a fraction of earlier crops. Stock-raising has been slowly developing since the abolition of slavery (1888) and the decline in coffee production, and the state now possesses large herds of cattle and droves of swine.
The state's agricultural and pastoral products are coffee, sugar, rum, Indian corn, mandioca (both bitter and sweet), cotton, tropical fruits, cattle, hogs, butter, cheese, fresh milk and lard. The state is well watered by the Parahyba (q.v.) and its tributaries and by numerous short streams flowing from the Serra do Mar to the coast. Manufacturing has been developed largely because of the fine water power supplied by the mountain streams, and among the manufactures are cotton, woollen, silk and jute fabrics, brick, tile and rough pottery, sugar, rum, vehicles, furniture, beer and fruit conserves. The state is well provided with railways, which include the Central do Brazil, Leopoldina, Melhoramentos and Rio do Ouro. The Central line runs from the city of Rio de Janeiro N.N.W. across the Serra do Mar to the Parahyba valley, where it divides into two branches at the station of Barra do Pirahy, one running westward to São Paulo, and the other eastward and northward into Minas Geraes. Besides these there are a number of short railways called the Theresopolis, União Valenciana, Rio das Flores, Bananal, and Vassourense lines., The total extension of these railways in the state in 1907 was 1445 m. Other than Nictheroy, the ports of the state are São João da Barra, Macahé or Imbetiba, Cabo Frio and Paraty, but they are visited only by the smaller coasting vessels.
The capital of the state is Nictheroy on the E. side of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, and other cities and towns, with their populations in 1890 except where otherwise stated, are: Campos (estimate, in 1907, 35,000), on the lower Parahyba in the midst of a rich sugar-producing region; Rio Bonito (19,321); Itaborahy (17,817); Barra Mansa (14,449), on the upper Parahyba; Rezende (14,370), in a fertile district of the upper Parahyba; Petropolis (q.v.); Cantagallo (about 9000), in a rich coffee district of the Serra do Mar; Paraty (10,765), a small port on the W. side of the bay of Angra dos Reis; Valença (11,965); Vassouras (9666); São Fidelis (11,770), a river port on the lower Parahyba having steamboat communication with Campos; Macahé (about 7000 in 1900), an old port on the eastern coast of the state at the mouth of the Macahé river whose original anchorage has been filled with silt, and that of Imbetiba, in the vicinity, with which it is connected by tramway, is now used by vessels both for the town and the Macahé and Campos railway; Barra do Pirahy (7750), an important station and junction of the Central do Brazil railway on the N. side of the Serra do Mar, with large manufacturing and commercial interests; Parahyba do Sul (7343), in a fertile, long-settled district in the N.E. part of the state; Maricá (10,373); Cabo Frio (10,382); Pirahy (10,429); Saquarema (12,489); Nova Friburgo (9857); and Araruama (9087).
RIO DE JANEIRO (in full, São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro, colloquially shortened to Rio), a city and port of Brazil, capital of the republic, and seat of an archbishopric, on the western side of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, or Guanabara, in lat. 25° 54′ 23″ S., long. 43° 8′ 34″ W. (the position of the Observatory). The city is situated in the S.E. angle of the Federal District (Districto Federal) formerly known as the Neutral Municipality (Municipio Neutro), an independent district or commune with an area of 538 sq. m., which was detached from the province of Rio de Janeiro in 1834. The city stands in great part on an alluvial plain formed by the filling in of the western shore of the bay, which extends inland from the shore-line in a north-westerly direction between a detached group of mountains on the S. known as the Serra da Carioca, and the imposing wooded heights of the Serra do Mar on the N. The spurs of the Carioca range project into this plain, in some places, closely up to the margin of the bay, forming picturesque valleys within the limits of the city. Some of the residential quarters follow these valleys up into the mountains and extend up their slopes and over the lower spurs, which, with the hills covered with buildings rising in the midst of the city, give a picturesque appearance. At the entrance to the bay is the Sugar Loaf (Pão de Assucar), a conical rock rising 1212 ft. above the water-level and forming the terminal point of a short range between the city and the Atlantic coast. The culminating point of that part of the Carioca range which projects into and partly divides the city is the Corcovado (Hunchback), a sharp rocky peak 2329 ft. high overlooking the Botafogo suburb and approachable only on the wooded N.W. side. These spurs are covered with luxuriant vegetation, excepting their perpendicular faces, and the slopes occupied by the suburbs. Considerably beyond the limits of the city on its S.W. side, but within the municipality, is the huge isolated flat-topped rock known as the Gavea, 2575 ft. high, which received its name from its resemblance to the square sail used on certain Portuguese craft. The sky-line of this range of mountains, as seen by the approaching traveller some miles outside the entrance to the bay, forms the rough outline of a huge reclining figure called “the sleeping giant,” the facial profile of which is also known, as “Lord Hood's nose.”
The entrance to the bay, between the Sugar Loaf on the W. and the Pico on the E., with fortress of Santa Cruz on one side and the fort of São João on the other, is about a mile wide and free from obstructions. Almost midway, in the channel are the little island and fort of Lage, so near the level of the sea that the spray is sometimes carried completely over it. On the W. is the semicircular bay of Botafogo, round which are grouped the residences of one of the richest suburbs; on the E., the almost land-locked bay of Jurujuba (see Nictheroy). The bay extends northward nearly 16½ nautical miles, with a maximum breadth of 11 m. and a minimum, between the arsenal of war (Ponta do Calabouço) and the opposite Ponta da Gravatá, of about 3500 yds. The shore-line is irregular, and has been modified by the construction of sea-walls and the filling in of shallow bays. Close to the shore are the islands of Villegaignon (occupied by a fort), Cobras (occupied by fortifications, naval storehouses, hospital and dry docks), Santa Barbara and Enxadas, the site of the Brazilian naval school. A small island just above the lower anchorage, which is occupied by port officials, was once known as Rat island, and is now called Ilha Fiscal. There is one lake
